Water, sewer extensions pegged at $15 million

Consultants present scenarios to add more service in Purcells Cove Road area

Steve Murphy, a consultant from CBCL Limited, gives a presentation to the community steering committee and an audience of inter ested Pur­cells Cove Road area residents at the Captain William Spry Community Centre on Monday. (TIM KROCHAK / Staff)

Extending water and sewer service to about 160 properties along Purcells Cove Road could cost residents $15 million, a public gathering was told Monday night.

Consultants looking at the feasibility of extending water and sewer to the neighbourhood presented five extension
scenarios and associated costs to a community steering committee Monday.

In the five scenarios presented, the base costs were all similar, whether they involved pumping sewage across the Northwest Arm to the peninsula or across undeveloped backlands to connect with infrastructure near Herring Cove Road.

While the base costs were similar, the amount property owners could end up paying varies widely, from $10,000 to over $60,000, the group was told.

There are 160 homes in the area now and zoning allows for up to 245 residences if some property owners were to subdivide.

In November, the committee was told that Clayton Developments would like to build a subdivision on nearly 162 hectares of wilderness land it owns near Williams Lake.

How much property owners would pay would depend on whether the $15-million base cost was shared among 160 property owners or more than 1,200 property owners, consultant Steve Murphy said.

After the presentation, the public was allowed to ask questions and make
comments.

Local resident Alastair Trower, who had crunched numbers during the meeting, stood up to explain that if the 160 property owners had to cover the $15million themselves and they were given up to 25 years to pay, it would cost them each about $390 per month.

“That’s the cost of infrastructure. It’s not the cost of giving us water and sewer,” Nancy Hunter pointed out.

The cost of running water and sewer lines from the property boundary to the house would also be the responsibility of the homeowner, the group was told.

“Without development, this becomes an impossibility for many of us here and we’ve made it very clear we don’t want development,” another local resident told the meeting.

In fact, no member of the public spoke in favour of getting water and sewer service.

“Ì think the potential for development is the issue here,” said Coun. Steve Adams (Spryfield-Sambro Loop-Prospect Road). “I believe there are residents who would like to prevent that development from happening by preventing sewer and water, but there are residents who want the sewer and water, there are.”

The committee’s next meeting is March 25, when the consultant has been asked to present other central service plans.

After the meeting, Murphy admitted there are many options but they all involve sewer only.